Season 3, Ep 13: Mapping Impact: Cultivating Relationships for Social Transformation

When it comes to creating real social impact and change, host Robbin Jorgensen explains, “It’s not something that you can do solo.” On this episode of Women Igniting Change, she walks you through her Social Impact Stakeholder Map, an eight-step process designed to help you understand the interconnections and interdependencies within and beyond your sphere of influence. Robbin asks you to rank people, institutions, and organizations in your life by their level of interest—those with whom you could potentially collaborate—and influence—those who can open doors for you that you can’t open yourself. You will also assess the strength of your current connections with each one.

Once you’ve identified your ideal network, the next step is to start reaching out. Robbin explains how to approach people and organizations professionally to lay the groundwork for success and make a lasting impression. Learn who your best points of contact are, the best social media platforms for networking, and the proper research to conduct before initiating contact.

Break out your markers and post-its and get ready to expand your footprint—and have fun in the process.

Quotes

• “You’re going to need a multitude of individuals to help you create real social impact and change - it’s not something you can do solo.” (2:28 | Robbin Jorgensen) 
• “Always keep in mind that vision that you have for your social change as you’re thinking through these different questions.” (7:55 | Robbin Jorgensen)
• “Now, I want you to dive into thinking through the centers of influence. Those are individuals and/or organizations that are really well-regarded in the space that you want to influence and impact, and they have a ton of credibility and potential to provide introductions for you and/or resources that you may not have access to. So, they tend to have really impressive decision-making power, and they have tremendous assets to help you achieve this social impact and vision.” (10:43 | Robbin Jorgensen)